News
2024 Holiday Shipping Dates
At this point we can't deliver before Christmas, but a Mail Order Mystery is a perfect last-minute gift. Order a mystery with our "Send Weekly" delivery option and the first letter will arrive early in the new year. Just download the special gift note that you can print out and wrap up (or even email) letting a child know that they’re about to receive a Mail Order Mystery.
Or choose our “All in One Box” option and we’ll ship all the installments next week in one box so they can be doled out as quickly (or slowly) as you like. It makes a perfect activity for the first week of January before the kids go back to school.
There are two ways to have your mystery experience delivered. You can have it packed up all together and shipped in one box, or you can have the mystery sent as separate installments mailed once a week for six weeks.
ALL IN ONE BOX
All six installments will be packed together in a single shipment that is fully tracked. Every mystery we send out is personalized, so it does take some time from when you place your order to when it ships. These are the dates we recommend that you order by if you would like to have your mystery delivered before December 24.
Please remember that these are only guidelines, based on the recommendations from the companies that deliver our packages. As is often the case during the holiday season, we expect there may be some delivery delays. Because of this we are unable to guarantee the date any mystery will arrive. Some mysteries may be delivered more quickly, but due to shipping delays beyond our control, it is possible that some packages may be delivered after December 24, especially outside of major cities.
| USA | |
| Standard | December 15 |
| Express | December 17 |
CANADA - Ontario |
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| Standard | December 15 |
| Express | December 17 |
CANADA - Outside Ontario |
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| Standard | December 12 |
| Express | December 17 |
SEND WEEKLY
We will mail your letters once a week for six weeks. We send mail every Thursday. You can pick which Thursday we send the first letter when you place your order. Please remember that this is the date we mail the letter, not the date that it will be delivered. We have no control over the speed at which letters travel through the postal system. And mail tends to travel much more slowly the closer we get to the holidays. There is no tracking information for lettermail, so we are not able to tell you where a letter is or when it will arrive.
If you want to time the first letter so it arrives just before Christmas, you should be prepared for the fact that it might not make it in time. If you order “Send Weekly” as a holiday gift we suggest you download the printable gift note to wrap up, and plan for the mystery to begin arriving shortly after Christmas or the beginning of the new year.
The following is not a guarantee, but our best estimate around when a first letter will be delivered, based on which date is chosen for the first letter to be mailed.
| December 5 | Will likely arrive before Christmas (Last day to order: Nov 29) |
| December 12 | Will likely arrive just before or just after Christmas (Last day to order: Dec 6) |
| December 19 | Will likely arrive after Christmas (Last day to order: Dec 13) |
| December 26 | Will likely arrive early in the new year (Last day to order: Dec 22) |
A FEW MORE THINGS
IF YOU ARE ORDERING FOR MORE THAN ONE KID: Mail Order Mysteries are personalized and we can include the names of multiple children in the same household. When you place your order please make sure to enter the names of each child.
IF YOU ARE ORDERING MORE THAN ONE MYSTERY: Please place your orders separately. We require a lot of information to properly package each order and we are not able to collect all of the information we need for more than one mystery in the same order. Please note that shipping is charged per item, so you will be charged the same amount of shipping whether you place separate orders or one order with more than one mystery.
PLEASE INCLUDE FIRST AND LAST NAMES: Please enter kids’ first AND last names. This is especially important for the Treasure Hunt mystery, as kids find out they have a pirate relative with the same last name as them. Only include middle names if they are regularly used as part of kids’ names.
CHECK THE INFO: Please take a moment to make sure that all of the information in your order is correct, including shipping information and the spelling of kids’ names. We cannot make changes to an order once it is printed and packed.
Need help choosing a mystery? We've got a handy guide.
If you have any other questions please let us know. We hope we can help you add the joy and subtract the stress this holiday season!